The loss of the Maison du Peuple was part of the trend of Brusselisation, where many historic buildings were torn down and replaced by skyscrapers. Later, structural parts of the building were used in the Horta Grand Café in Antwerp and some of the original pieces can still be found in Horta premetro station in Saint-Gilles. However, its components were scattered in vacant lots around Brussels, and it was never reconstructed. The building was dismantled entirely with the idea of rebuilding it elsewhere. The Maison du Peuple was demolished in 1965, despite an international protest movement of over 700 architects, in what has been regarded as an "architectural crime". The Blaton Tower on the spot where the Maison du Peuple stood until its demolition in 1965 Because of the experimental combination of brick, glass and steel, it was considered as a masterwork of modern architecture. The building was completed in 1899 and was inaugurated in the presence of the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès. To make this construction possible, Horta drew no less than 8,500 m 2 (91,000 sq ft) of plans. As with Horta's houses, however, the building was designed to make maximum use of light, with large skylights over the main meeting room. On the roof, the building was decorated with signs bearing the names of people who contributed to the socialist cause, such as Karl Marx and Leon Blum. The only strikingly recognisable Art Nouveau features of the facade were the balustrades with curling lines, as well as a slight curving of the steel pillars supporting the roof. Fifteen craftsmen worked for eighteen months on the ironwork. Unlike Horta's houses, the decoration was kept to a minimum, as it was a purely functional building, mainly constructed in white cast iron (more than 600,000 kg ) with curtain walls. It provided space for all kinds of socio-economic facilities the ground floor was made of shops and a café restaurant the first floor included the party's offices and meeting rooms, as well as a library the second and third floors welcomed various multi-purpose rooms the fourth floor was home to a large auditorium and concert hall seating over 2,000 people. In spite of a rather restrictive and irregular plot, along a circular square and on a slope, Horta succeeded in constructing a four-storey building with maximum functionality. Victor Horta, the architect of the Maison du Peuple/ Volkshuis He was assisted in this project by Richard Pringiers, who was to become the appointed architect of the party. Victor Horta was commissioned by the Belgian Workers' Party (POB/BWP) to build a grandiose people's house on the Place Emile Vandervelde/ Emile Vanderveldeplein, in the Sablon/Zavel district of Brussels. Its demolition has been regarded as an "architectural crime" and an example of Brusselisation. The building was demolished in 1965, and a skyscraper, the Blaton Tower, was built on its site. Commissioned by the Belgian Workers' Party (POB/BWP), it was constructed between 18, and opened on 2 April 1899. It was one of the most influential Art Nouveau buildings in Belgium and one of the most notable designs by the architect Victor Horta. The Maison du Peuple ( French) or Volkshuis ( Dutch), both literally the "House of the People", was a public building located on the Place Emile Vandervelde/ Emile Vanderveldeplein, in the Sablon/Zavel district of Brussels, Belgium. View of the Maison du Peuple/ Volkshuis in the late 19th century or early 20th century
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